Vapor expulsion



Dec. 11, 1951 e. c. MORRIS 2,578,577

VAPOR EXPULSION Filed Sept. 22, 1948 lllilllfllll|llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll INVENTOR George E fifarris ATTORNLY Patented Dec. 1 1 1951 VAPOR EXPUL'SION George 0. Morris, Owosso, Michl, assignor to Redmond Company, Inc., Owosso, Mich.,a corporationof Michigan Application September 22, 1948, Serial No. 50,627

3 Claims. IV

This invention relates to vapor expulsion, and particularly to the expulsion of harmful vapors from the crankcase of an internal combustion engine.

Most of the automotive engine crankcase scavenging systems now in use operate on a theory that suflicient ventilation of the crankcase will occur if there is provision for entrance of air through a breathing pipe leading to the crankcase, and for emergence of air through a vent opening, at some other point of the crankcase; the breathing action being usually dependent upon the draft created by the engine cooling fan, by pressure differentials existing between the inlet and outlet points, or simply upon the draft due to motion of the vehicle itself.

All these presently used arrangementstend to fall short of complete, effective scavenging action, mainly because they are not capable of maintaining a proper air pressure at the air entrance pipe under all conditions. A number of factors work against maintenance of proper air pressure at this point. A principal factor is the blow-by rate, that is, the rate at which air and gases penetrating into the crankcase from the combustion spaces tend to leave the crankcase by way of the air intake pipe rather than by way of the normal outlet vent, or road tube. During idling of the engine, and in fact up to speeds of fifteen or more miles per hour, the volume of air blow-by escaping through the air intake tube may be greater than that escaping by way of the road tube. This sets up a reverse pressure condition at the intake tube and interferes with, or actually prevents, any intake of scavenging air during the persistence of such blow-by action.

The present invention aims to overcome this reverse flow condition in the air intake tube as well as other objectionable conditions, by providing a uni-directional pressure gradient at the air intake tube, which uni-directional pressure gradient will always be sufi'icient to defeat any tendency of the blow-by gases to escape from the crankcase by way of the air intake tube, thus forcing such gases to emerge by way of the vented road-tube, along with all the scavenging air.

An object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a novel combination of means for a-more effective expulsion of harmful vapors from an engine crankcase under a variety of conditions encountered on one occasion or another during use of an automotive vehicle equipped with an internal combustion power plant.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide, in a scavenging system of the character indicated, a substantially constant delivery of scavenging air to the crankcase, regardless of operating conditions.

Another object is to provide a novel combination and inter-relationship of air cleaner, impeller, driving motor, and oil receiving tube, with the three units first-named being carried directly upon the last named unit and co-operating therewith to provide the constantly effective uni-directional pressure gradient above described.

These and other objects of the invention will be better understood upon reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating one possible application of the invention. It is to be. understood, however, that the accompanying drawings and the following explanation thereof, merely exemplify the invention without attempting to indicateits scope or limits. For a definition of scope and limits, reference is to be had to the appended claims. a

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevation and partly sectional view of a unitary structure including an air cleaner, impeller, and driving motor, all mounted on the oil receiving tube of an internal combustion engine; and

Fig. 2 is a top plan view, in part, and a sectional view, in part, of the assembly of Fig. 1.

In Fig. 1 the air cleaner is shown at 5, the impeller at B, the driving motor at 1, and a mounting strap at 8, the latter embracing the oil receiving tube 9 for the crankcase and having its ends secured by screw Ill. The upper edge of the strap fits snugly against the under surface of plate ll of the housing of impeller 6, and when in position it automatically locates prongs l2, l3 in registry with the aperture M in the wall of tube 9. The installation mechanic can then insert a tool in the tube, through its upper end and bend these prongs back into engagement with the inner wall surface, thus causing these prongs I2, l3 to supplement the holding action of strap 8.

Motor 1 has an extending armature shaft [6 to which the hub ll of the impeller 6 is secured for rotation therewith; the impeller having its blades so disposed, and the impeller chamber being so shaped, as to produce a rate of air delivery to tube 9, by way of aperture l4, that will be sulficient, at all different speeds, to maintain the desired unidirectional pressure gradient above described.

Air enters the cleaner 5 and passes through the filtering material on its way to the blower chamber. The latter is scroll-shaped, but has an abutment 21 to restrict somewhat the tendency to tangential flow and thus build up and maintain the desired pressure gradient, along the path of delivery to the tube 9. It will be understood that the tube 9 communicates at its lower end with the interior of the engine crankcase in the manner illustrated, by way of example, in Fig. 4 of my copending application No. 30,961, filed June 3, 1948; the tube 9 of the present disclosure being in this respect a counterpart of the tube IQ of said copending applica- 'tion.

Although the foregoing description includes details of but a single embodiment, it should be understood that the invention may be embodied in other arrangements of the component parts, and that certain component parts may be used independently of others, or with modifications thereof, within the scope of the invention as disclosed and claimed.

What I claim is:

1. In an internal combustion engine having a crankcase equipped with air intake and exhaust tubes for the circulation of scavenging air therethrough, said exhaust tube serving as a vent for such scavenging air and also as a vent for the blow-by entering the crankcase from the combustion spaces of the engine, means for maintaining the pressure in said air intake tube at a value that is always higher than the air pressure in said crankcase, to defeat any tendency of said blow-by to escape from the crankcase by way of said air intake tube, said pressure maintaining means comprising a motor-driven blower mounted on said air intake tube, a housing for said blower, and registering passages in said blower housing an intake tube for delivery of air to said intake tube, and said blower housing including a wall running tangentially of the circular path described by the blower blades in rotation, said wall also turning sharply to form an air pocket tending to reduce the velocity and increase the pressure difierential as the air stream enters said registering passages.

2. An air circulating system as defined in claim 1, wherein said blower housing further includes prongs projecting into the air intake tube along the bounding edges of said registering passages, to facilitate maintenance of proper registry between said passages.

3. An air circulating system as defined in claim 1, wherein said blower housing further includes a plate extending transversely between the blower and driving motor, and supporting the latter in suspension thereon, and a mounting strap surrounding said motor and air intake tube, said strap having its upper edge fitting under said transverse plate to provide support for the motor-blower assembly.

GEORGE C. MORRIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,690,332 Clements Nov. 6, 1928 1,927,554 McCleery Sept. 19, 1933 2,389,140 Enblom Nov. 20, 1945 2,466,328 Roeder et al Apr. 5, 1949 2,524,597 Kline et a1. Oct. 3, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number 1 Country Date 530,273 France of 1921 

